Turn Back Time (2010) s01e02 Episode Script
Edwardian
(Clock ticking) One typical British town.
Its high street was once its heart and soul.
Not any more.
But what if we could turn back time to the days of the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker? A group of shopkeepers and their families are leaving the 21 st century behind.
You are going to discover what the high street was really like.
Your aim is to make this town fall in love with this high street again.
Today's mantra is: Sell, sell, sell.
Every week, they'll be living and trading through a different era.
- Can we lift it? - From Victorian to Edwardian.
Rabbits! - Through peace time - (Laughter) and war time.
- (Air-raid siren) - (Giggles) - The Swinging '60s to the Shocking '70s.
(Laughter) 100 years of high street history.
It's absolutely magical.
Can they sell the products of the past to 21 st-century customers? - Oh, the poor creatures.
- I'd be frightened to give this to the birds.
- (Laughter) - Pimpin'! And can they make a profit while they're at it? This is unbelievably hard.
I don't know how these poor buggers did this in the old days.
If I'm really being honest, I hate it.
Tonight, the High Street arrives in the early 20th century an era of elegance, etiquette and emotional upheaval.
Right, keep going.
Keep going.
Run, run, run.
- (Squeals) Ooh, no.
(Laughs) - Do you wanna get the mop? Can the shopkeepers persuade people to love their high street once more? - Oh, Doreen, look! - Go on! Put it away.
These 21 st-century traders are now kitted out for the earliest years of the 20th century: The elegant age of the Edwardians.
For baking family the Devlins, anything's better than what they've just been through.
I think we had such a difficult time in the Victorian era.
We had nothing that would make our lives easier, in fact we had pretty much nothing at all.
Butchers the Sharps are looking forward to a more refined age.
Edwardian era will be more about etiquette, I think, and how we deal with customers.
This is when shopping began to be a leisure activity, as well as a necessity.
Britain was the world's richest nation and its shops were stuffed with luxuries, for those who could afford them.
This week, there's a new shopkeeperjoining the High Street - dressmaker Gill Cockwell.
She wants to return to a time before clothing was mass-produced.
I'm hoping that I'm going to have a shop full of ostrich feathers and I can go and put a feather in everyone's hat and make them more glamorous.
All the shopkeepers are heading to the historic heart of Shepton Mallet in Somerset, - where their shops await them.
- (Indistinct chatter) Their mission is to lure back shoppers to this unloved town centre and to make a profit.
Hello.
Oh, how exciting.
My shop's over there.
Making sure they stick to the rules of the era is the High Street's Chamber of Commerce: Social historian Juliet Gardiner, Tom Herbert a fifth generation baker, and Gregg Wallace, not just a judge on MasterChef, but also a successful greengrocer.
Welcome back to the Edwardian High Street.
Now you've already experienced a week as Victorian shopkeepers and you did pretty well.
So well, in fact, that I need to show you something.
This is the front page of the local newspaper.
- Look at that.
- Oh, wow! "A town reborn".
The residents of this town are starting to fall in love with their high street again, but now you've going to have to up your game.
The Edwardians expected a really high level of customer service.
Etiquette, salesmanship and service.
These are the key words.
Juliet and Tom will be popping in to see how you're getting on.
One last thing: Butchers, bakers, grocers meet your staff.
- Oh, I don't believe it! Fantastic.
- Oh, wow! The butchers, bakers and grocers will each have two new pairs of hands (Chuckles) Hello, chaps.
How are you? though Edwardian shops often had many more.
Hi.
Hi.
How are you going? - Hello.
I'm Polly.
- I'm Nigel, the baker.
The arrival of staff is by no means the biggest change.
The bakers are now offering more than bread.
Wow! Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
It's posh! (Laughter) Tearooms provided somewhere civilised on the high street for Edwardian ladies to socialise, without risking their reputation.
They're little infusers and you put the tea in.
Isn't that lovely? In the 21 st century, Caroline is the baker of the family and an equal business partner with Nigel.
But bread making was very much a man's role in the 1900s.
It was the same in the Victorian era, when Nigel struggled to learn the work Caroline was forbidden to do.
You can't blame me, I'm a woman.
I'm not meant to be in here.
Though Nigel remains in charge, there has been some progress for women, as the family learn from the rule book each shopkeeper has been provided with.
"The bakery is part of an important social change during the Edwardian era.
The women of the family will oversee the running and servicing of the tearoom".
I think, in this era, there's gonna be more opportunity for a woman to actually, well, make more of a name for herself as an individual, rather than standing behind her husband.
I think that bakery/teashop is going to be the absolute triumph of our Edwardian era.
- Ooh, that's very grand.
- It is, innit, eh? The Sergison family are pleased to see their grocery store has gone upmarket too.
DEBBIE: Oh, wow! - Very nice, isn't it? - Oh, I like this.
- Hell of a lot bigger.
Lavish displays were common, even at shops which were basically the Edwardian equivalent of supermarkets.
And, amid the grandeur, are brands that are still around today.
KARL: All the packaged tea now, no more weighing our own blend out.
DEBBIE: Lyons.
- We've got Typhoo.
I knew Typhoo was around.
But some of their stock wouldn't be allowed by modern trading standards.
- Obesity soap.
- Obesity? - (Laughs) KARL: What on earth is obesity soap? "Use like an ordinary soap.
Positively reduces fat, without dieting or gymnastics.
" I'm gonna find the fattest bird who comes in my shop and I'm gonna see if I can flog it to them.
(Laughs) Karl and his family are getting better and better.
They're gonna have a great week.
Gosh, no more constipation for Debbie.
I've got melon.
- (Laughs) Superb.
- I have fruit.
The Sharps have been butchers for generations, but Andrew recently lost his business.
Andrew was desperate to be a butcher in the heyday of butchery, and this is it.
He is now a master butcher with staff.
Andrew's hoping this experience will teach his 14-year-old son Michael how respected the family trade once was.
So I guess I'm working behind here, am I? You'll be out there and I'll be in here, watching what's going on.
No, you can't, you're t'main man.
When I first started work in a butcher's shop, this is what it was like.
Maisie behind the desk.
Miserable Maisie.
(Gruffly) How much? (Laughs) Just like in the Victorian era, they've no fridge in which to keep their stock cool, just an ice box.
And what's in it this time round is something of a surprise.
- What's that? Is that a badger? - Wild rabbits, wild ducks, pheasant.
Unlike today, game was a staple of the Edwardian diet, for rich and poor alike.
The people of Shepton Mallet probably have never had anything to do with game in their life, unless they're really old.
Hanging rabbits and pheasants is gonna go down very badly.
It was bad enough with pigs' heads.
Game in restaurants, smart restaurants, yes.
Game in the high street, I'm not too sure.
I think he's got his work cut out.
The big revolution on the High Street is the shop which has replaced the Victorian ironmonger's.
Ah, that's a bit of a shock.
"Penny Bazaar".
I wonder what that means.
It's the era's equivalent of a Pound Shop.
It's not the kind of store Simon Grant-Jones was hoping to run.
I am a little bit disappointed that I'm not valued in this period as much as in the Victorian era.
Simon previously spent much of his time making his own stock in a forge at the back of his shop.
A blacksmith in the 21 st century, he proved his skills once had a place right at the heart of the high street.
But, already, his craft is looking redundant.
The bulk of his stock is now factory-made.
It does go against the grain to serve this sort of stuff.
I'm not really all about mass-produced items.
I mean, I'm a craftsman at heart.
Unlike the Victorian era, I think Simon's got a lot more things to sell, He should attract a lot more customers, but it's him, himself.
Is he a shopkeeper? - I think he wants to make things.
- Yeah.
We're getting now into the Edwardian era, where things are moving maybe a little bit faster.
People want things a little bit quicker, so they're possibly willing to settle for a little less quality.
Above the Penny Bazaar is the parlour where new arrival Gill will try to make and sell dresses.
Oh, fantastic.
I love it.
I absolutely love it.
She's the only woman on the Edwardian High Street allowed to run her own business.
This is a proper corset-making dummy.
I've always wanted one of these.
Needlework was one of the few respectable trades a woman could go into.
The dressmaker's gonna have quite a challenge.
She's got to attract women into her shop.
Now how is she gonna make a profit? Modern-day customers are used to going into shops, trying things on, getting them cheap.
I just want to play dress-up now, I want to try everything on.
(Giggles) For the next week, the shopkeepers will live and trade like it's the 1900s.
- Pickled eggs.
- 10,000 people live in Shepton Mallet.
All are potential customers, but most currently go to the other end of town where the modern superstores are.
Will the shopkeepers be able to convince them that Edwardian personal service is a match for modern convenience shopping? Right's it's day one.
Very busy.
Customers coming in about an hour.
Basically, we want to get stuck in.
We're gonna stack all the shelves.
If something's got a high-end smell like boot polish, don't put it in the same cupboard as the tea.
- Just twiddle it a bit back and forward.
- I can't hear.
Karl really is having a ball here, you know.
He is the grand fromage.
He can boss people about and do very little, apart from be very gracious to his customers and that's him down to a tee.
It's 20 to nine.
We've got 20 minutes to go and we officially open for business.
First day, big day, big smiles, everyone happy.
None of this is going to be straightforward.
Chicken is very straightforward and so is pork chops but, after that, tongues, pigeons, you know, any game, venison, it's all Bambi, Watership Down It's all those, you know, emotive connotations that the modern customer has got.
I'm excited about meeting my first customer.
Maybe I'll take a commission today.
I hope so.
There's just enough time before opening to focus on the finer points of Edwardian-style service.
It's "Sir", it's "Ma'am", it's "Miss", it's "Master" and it's "Mistress" for the little ones.
Do not make any personal remarks to them.
You have to be detached but very, very pleasant to them.
Make sure your aprons are ironed and your hats are nice and fresh.
Lesson over, it's time to start trading.
The first customers have all been persuaded by the Chamber of Commerce to shop only on the Edwardian High Street.
In this new era, I'm expecting far more produce.
Much more colour, much more stock and I might be surprised by the things in the shops.
- Does that make you thin, the obesity soap? - Well, apparently so.
You rub it really hard and it rubs it off, apparently.
(Chuckles) As you can see, we're rather banged out at the moment.
- Would you like to take a seat and I can help? - Thank you very much.
- Six apples, please.
- OK, six apples.
- And a big bunch of grapes.
- A big bunch of red grapes.
Bunch of grapes.
So if you get the large bunch of grapes, can we interest you in any of our cheese? I would like some potatoes, half a dozen eggs, three onions.
Have you got any tapioca? Oh, the poor creatures, hanging up.
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
- What is this? - That's a muntjac deer.
- If I get a rabbit, will you prepare it so it's? - All done.
CUSTOMER: Don't worry, darling, you can just have some vegetables.
One of Simon's first customers is a fellow shopkeeper- Caroline from the tearoom.
We're looking for tea plates, cups and saucers.
I quite like this.
This is very pretty.
- That's quite nice, actually, isn't it? - And we could have it on account, - until the end of the week? - That would be fine.
For the Edwardians, the idea of handling goods while you browsed was such a novelty, they feared they'd be charged for the privilege, hence the "admittance free" sign.
You can have a good old rummage, can't you? It's nice, I like buttons and cotton reels and bits of chalk, and things like that.
Although the signs say you only need spend a penny, the old prices are merely to give a flavour of the cost for Edwardians.
Shepton's customers are, in fact, charged the modern equivalent.
- How much are those? - A penny.
- In new money? - 41 p.
Thank you very much.
The early signs are that Edwardian service is working.
Oh, the service was just fantastic.
I felt like a lady.
I was asked to sit down and, "What would you like, madam?" And it was a master and missus and I just thought it was just wonderful.
The teashop is due to open at lunchtime, but there's still work to do.
Though ladies would still not bake bread, Caroline is allowed to make the cakes, but she needs the manual to tell her how.
I am not a cake maker and my children will vouch for that.
Worse still, butter in the Edwardian period was seriously expensive.
Lard was much cheaper, making the animal fat most women's favourite.
You don't like that do you, Mum, cos you're a vegetarian? I can't believe it's got lard in it.
There seems to be lard in everything, absolutely everything, in the bread, in cakes.
It's vile, to be honest.
It looks awful.
Right, we've gotta get this cake in the oven.
Come on.
Aren't you impressed? - With what? - The master baker - and he's drying the dishes.
- Aren't you good? What is it, a woman's job? - (Cackles) But, next door, after just two hours, Michael's already bored.
There's too much help on hand.
I can't really do anything and I can't wait till we get rid of the apprentices.
Not that I don't like them, they are good but, when we get rid of them, I can do more.
With so little to do in the shop, he takes it upon himself to drum up business around town.
Rabbits! Pheasants! Pigeons! Venison! But the products are a little less processed than modern shoppers are used to.
- Hello.
- Could I interest you in any game at all? I wouldn't know what to do with it if I had it.
What do you have to do to it? You just basically do that all the way round.
- Oh, right.
- Like that, like meat.
If you'd like to pop round to Sharp and Sons, if I have persuaded you enough Pheasants! Rabbits! Pigeons! Go to Sharp and Sons.
Could I interest you in any game at all? Oh, look! God, it's years ago since I did anything with that and I couldn't do it now.
- Oh, Doreen, look.
- Ooh, go on, put it away! - I couldn't skin it.
- You can cook it like chicken.
- Ooh, I know.
- It comes out like a baby if you stuff it.
- Yeah.
Thanks for your time.
- Bye-bye, then.
Cheerio.
Dressmaker Gill is attempting to drum up some business too.
- That's lovely on you.
That's really charming.
- I must go and look.
It really suits you.
The garments being tried on are just samples.
Wealthier Edwardian ladies would never have bought ready-made off-the-peg dresses.
If you were lucky enough to be a rich woman, you wouldn't have to work, you could just sit on a lawn and eat scones.
Gill's hoping to encourage customers to order a custom-made dress from her.
And that's what she does in the 21 st century, too.
Once you have something made, and it fits perfectly, it's quite an addictive thing.
She wants to take her customers back to a time when handmade clothes were all that women wore.
I'd like to create real genuine items that you can treasure as opposed to just throwaway fashion, which you wear twice and then replace.
I love the fact that the fabrics are all so much nicer.
- I can't even shop any more - Everything feels because everything's acrylic and polyester - and I just feel it and go, "It's not very inspiring".
- No.
Just go back to the workshop and make something.
(Laughs) It's now lunchtime and the teashop is due to start serving up cakes, but Caroline hasn't yet managed to get to grips with the Edwardian oven.
It looks good on top, but it's kind of moving underneath.
It's raw.
And we're talking at least two-and-a-half hours in, if not more.
- Just put it back in.
- Put it back in, chuck, leave it.
Queues of intrigued customers are gathering outside.
Is that all those people wanting to come for tea? Please tell me not.
We just have to wing it and we just say, just"Due to unforeseen circumstances, this is available.
" An Edwardian teashop would have served everything from seed cake to Swiss roll.
The only thing in Caroline's are six scones and a half-eaten ginger cake Nigel baked earlier in their living quarters above the shop.
- I don't have any other cake.
We need that.
- Will you listen? I don't wanna bring the cake down in front of the customers.
- Well, wrap the damn thing up.
- I haven't got anything to wrap it in.
- But why don't you prepare it up there? - Dad, I've got paper here.
Get a paper bag? Get a paper bag, bring it.
I can't be carrying it through, once Jack, go and get it.
Take the paper bag upstairs and go and get it.
You've got people waiting outside.
You've got to get them in.
Come on.
- OK.
- OK.
All right.
- Would you like to come with me? - Thank you.
Two English breakfast teas.
What cake would you like? - Sorry - Sorry? On the menu is there's a tiny bit of ginger cake, there's a scone and erm sandwiches.
That is it, unfortunately, cos our oven has kind of cut out.
Well, it's not working very well.
Saffron, get your hands out of there now.
Cup of tea and a scone, please.
I will have a slice of ginger cake, please.
Within minutes, the ginger cake and scones are gone.
- I can't serve them that as two slices.
- No, that is one slice.
- OK, that's fine, and that's it? - Yeah.
OK.
- Ginger cake.
- Thank you.
The teapots are dripping everywhere and not very organised today.
Tea and honey cake? - Unfortunately, we have no cake.
- No more cake.
We had a problem with cooking everything ready in time.
- What have you got? - I'm afraid we have no more cakes.
- Never mind, eh? - We'll have sandwiches instead.
Gill has some customers, though not yet a commission for a dress.
- (Laughter) - It's a really good fit, actually.
It feels fab.
A respectable Edwardian, would of course, conceal a corset under layers of clothes.
A hundred years later You want this for outerwear, rather than underwear? - Yes.
women are clearly less constrained and Gill is managing to combine Edwardian personal service with modern fashion.
Have a look in the mirror.
It gives you a great shape.
- That's amazing.
- Crikey! That does look good.
I like that.
For Gill, it's a first step towards converting the town to the advantages of handmade.
If you did want this one, I could alter it and make it look like outerwear by smoothing off this edge here, which I could do by hand.
And then I could add some sort of lace - or a ruffle or a frill on top.
- I think that would be fantastic.
You can see that she put thought into it immediately, "Right, this is my client's needs and this is what I'm gonna do to sort of do that and produce something that satisfies it".
As if the shopkeepers don't have enough to contend with, the Chamber of Commerce have set them one more challenge for this era.
They've sent a very special pair of customers to the High Street.
Will and Katie are about to get married, and want some Edwardian embellishment for their reception.
Weddings of the era reached new heights of luxury.
The upper-class fashion for lavish spectacle was increasingly taken up by middle-class couples too.
The Sergisons have been told they need to rustle up the perfect wedding breakfast.
The other shopkeepers will make items to go with it.
"You should not only recreate the look seen in this picture, but produce some delicacies for the table that your customers can try for a pre-wedding celebration at the end of the era.
Decide which six of these you would like to supply.
Blancmange, trifle, rabbit soufflé, whole tongue, truffles, semolina croquettes, orange jelly, calf's-foot jelly" That is nice.
"coffee jelly and oyster patties".
That's gonna be fun.
That really is gonna be fun.
- Take care.
- Thank you.
As the bride and groom continue their shopping, Karl summons his family for a meeting.
There's a lot to do there and not only have we got to produce the food, we've got to dress this table and acquire the dressage equipment to make it look pretty.
I would really love to make the garland, cos I've made them before and it's rea How much you'd love to do 'em is irrelevant.
We've got a lot of work to do, you've got to source this out.
We've got a shop to run and lots of other things that we've got to do.
I know I can do it.
I can do it, you just don't want me to do it.
- I know you can do it.
- I know, but I want to, Karl.
You know, I just don't know what your problem is.
Might as well just leave it.
You're doing my head in.
Oh, golly.
Sorry.
Deb? Where are you, babe? I think them two just need to decide which one's actually boss.
- Do you take sugar, Katie? - No thank you.
- Would you like a biscuit? - I'm OK, thank you, actually.
Gill is meeting bride-to-be Katie to discuss what she can run up for the wedding.
So how long have you been dressmaking? But, as Katie enjoys the genteel atmosphere of a dressmaker's parlour her fiancé is about to discover not everything Edwardian is quite so appealing to modern tastes.
- We have a boar's head.
- Wild boar? - Yes.
- I don't think he'd be allowed on top table.
- (Laughter) - Katie would not be The beast will be stuffed and decorated, to form the centrepiece of a 1900-style wedding breakfast.
I'm intrigued as to what Katie will think.
She doesn't like bones on her plate, so how she'll feel about a boar's head, I'm not sure.
That would make a lovely handkerchief which I could embroider with your wedding date.
How about the idea of having my initials actually made out of lace and put into the hanky? I could make you the hanky - and then stitch the lace on.
- That would be lovely.
This will test your diplomacy and skills of negotiation.
(Laughter) You'll have to learn your new skills as a husband on how to move your wife in the direction which you want her to and not the one she wants to.
It's not quite as easy as it might sound.
It's a very dirty job.
To prepare the head, Andrew must first burn the hair off.
This is a bit like my normal barbeque technique, this.
He must then take the skull out stuff it with rich meats finally, once cooked, he must decorate it with an elaborate pattern of icing sugar.
It's going to be a table centrepiece at a nice wedding, so we'll try and achieve something like that.
With no more cakes to sell, the Devlin's teashop is closing early.
We survived.
I think that's about the best we can say.
There were some seriously disappointed children out there, there wasn't enough food.
It was hard to keep your etiquette and manners, trying to be an Edwardian when all you wanna do is say, "I'm sorry there's none of this, none of that" - And there's another problem.
- (Giggles) This one's been in for half a day.
This is my Madeira.
Can I just say that I didn't think I could make cakes, but I really didn't think I could make them this badly, OK? Caroline believes using lard is why the cakes didn't cook, but replacing it with more expensive butter will eat into profits.
We can't afford to buy the butter from the grocer's.
- No, we can't.
- We can't.
- So what are going to do, master baker? - Put lard in instead.
- No we can't.
- Why not? - It's a cheaper ingredient.
- I can't do that.
Food was much more expensive for Edwardians.
They spent up to 70 per cent of their income on it, as opposed to just 10 per cent today.
Butter was four times the price it is now.
I could go and source it elsewhere.
The shopkeepers have pledged to shop only on the Edwardian High Street.
So we're going to see if we can find another shop where we can buy it a bit cheaper.
Going to a modern supermarket breaks the rules, even if the shop they're visiting was open in the Edwardian era.
- Look straight ahead.
Don't look.
- Yeah, but we've got to look for butter, Mum.
- We're just gonna buy butter.
- How much are How many are there? - That's it.
There we go.
Look.
- All right.
Four Eight.
OK.
OK.
This is good.
I think we're doing well.
It's 7:00pm and the shops start to close up.
- Thank you.
Goodnight.
- Good night.
See you later.
Bye-bye.
At the grocer, Harry tots up the day's takings.
We've taken just shy of 200 quid today, which is not including accounts yet.
- That's very good.
- It's been a good day - for the men.
After a disastrous start in the teashop, Caroline's still grafting, making bread and butter pudding to sell the next day, though It's not a recipe of the era.
Here we are at half-past seven, preparing for tomorrow, really having to make up a lot of ground and I think we've kind of slid backwards again.
Can you manage down here, or not? And Caroline's not the only woman on the High Street who's feeling frustrated.
I was really cross with Karl, because I was saying, "I really want to do the garland", and Karl kept saying no.
It was just really frustrating me, because I knew I could do it.
Next morning, at the Penny Bazaar, there's a new recruit: 12-year-old Raif, the baker's son.
Come in.
Blacksmith Simon is losing interest in his shop and wants to get back to his forge.
I've just come to an arrangement with your dad that you're going to work for me for today and maybe some more during the week, we'll see, we'll see how you get on.
The pricing is quite important.
You've got to get it right.
Don't let everybody tell you that everything in here's a penny, cos it's not.
The stuff out there on the barrow, on the table, any of that is a penny, but the stuff in here is priced differently.
- I'm trusting you on this.
- Yeah.
- It's a responsible job, this is.
- Yeah.
- You think you can do it? - Yeah.
- OK.
Don't let me down.
- Yeah.
The prosperity of the Edwardian era was partly thanks to the exploitation of children.
Children as young as eight worked for as little as £15 a week in today's money.
- How much are these? - They're 40p.
Everything on the table is 40p.
40p.
- I need roughly about six of them.
- Yeah.
It says that they're £6.
50 each.
- It says everything in this shop's a penny.
- I've been told not to accept that.
By the Edwardian period, Simon's ironmongery skills would only be needed for luxury items.
He's making a mirror for the wedding couple: His big chance to show modern customers the advantages of hand-crafted goods.
Other people have got to look at this and think, "God, I'd like to order one of those.
I'd really like one of those for myself".
So it is very important that it's delivered on time, a good job, well finished, and to the customer's specification.
If I don't do that, I'm in danger of losing some potential commissions.
- Mrs Towner, how are you? - I've got my order for you.
At the grocer's, Karl perfects his personal service.
Sit down there.
We'll go through it.
- We'll make sure I've got everything for you.
- You have to shout.
But his wife Debbie is still stuck out back, preparing food for the wedding breakfast.
If we were back in Edwardian times and Karl was my strict husband who said, "Right, this is what you've gotta do," I don't think I would have went down the line of being a married woman.
I really feel sorry for women in the Edwardian era, they really didn't have a say.
At the teashop, last night's hard work seems to have paid off.
We're ahead of ourselves.
We're all right and we've actually got stuff out.
Fantastic.
So even if we haven't got what they want, we can offer them something else whereas, yesterday, we were literally down to cucumber sandwiches and bread and jam.
And to help things run more smoothly, Nigel has agreed to wait tables.
In terms of the etiquette, yeah, I'm aware that the men or the man didn't actually serve, but we'll see how it goes.
What's important here is customer service.
But, just when they think they're getting on top of it, along come Tom and Juliet from the Chamber of Commerce.
It's not normally the done thing, in Edwardian times, but I'll take your order.
I have a bit of a problem with Mr Devlin and his etiquette.
He's a bit chatty.
- You obviously keep 'em under control.
- I wish.
(Laughter) Good day, ma'am.
I'd like the pot of tea for one and I'd like a plate of cucumber sandwiches and, then, I think I'll have a couple of cakes.
- I think I'll have a slice of ginger cake.
- One pot of tea.
I'm afraid we don't have any ginger cake at the moment.
Would you like to know what cakes we do have? - Erm have you a lemon cake? - No, I'm so sorry.
We have bread and butter pudding cake.
- Perhaps I could have a word with Caroline? - Yes, of course.
The role of historian Juliet is to make sure the shopkeepers are sticking to the rules of the era, and she's seeing some problems with the Edwardian teashop.
I was horrified when I came into the teashop to see one of your waitresses wearing a dirty work apron in the shop.
It might be fine for in the kitchen, that's OK.
Never come into the shop with a dirty apron like that.
I asked for some ginger cake, no ginger cake.
No lemon cake.
You're not really fulfilling your menu.
And then I was offered bread and butter pudding cake.
Now you're not a workman's café, you're a teashop.
You're a lady's teashop.
Dainty is the word we're looking for here, not, you know, rib-sticking fare.
I don't want to see you, Nigel, in the teashop.
I just don't want you serving.
This is women serving and women serving quietly and daintily and very formally.
You really must keep up standards in this Edwardian teashop.
A good business is about developing a rapport with their customers and actually making their customers feel they care about them, and that they're interested in their lives, that is the 2010 way.
This is a complete contradiction to that.
Tom arrives at the Penny Bazaar with two bicycles for Simon to sell.
He might struggle, since they cost the equivalent of around £1,300 in today's money.
Despite that, cycling was a highly popular Edwardian hobby, particularly for ladies.
- Hi, Tom.
- Is Simon here? Actually, he's doing some of his forgery orders in the forge so - So you're boying manning the shop? - Yeah, at the moment, yeah.
- Bit of pocket money? - Erm well, long story, really.
- Oh, right.
- Yeah.
What? We're in a bit of debt with him because, when we found out we had to run the tearooms, we had to have, like, china and that and that's quite expensive, so we had no money, - so I've gotta kind of work it back in here.
- Oh, right, OK.
- Well, I've brought you a couple of bikes.
- Awesome! Whoa.
I suppose you were lucky to have a bike, weren't you? So that's what I am - lucky.
While Tom checks in with Simon - Is he managing all right? - Yeah, I think so.
Raif's unable to resist temptation.
I'm really pleased, actually, cos he's quite a sensible lad.
(Rings bell) I'm confident that Raif can look after the shop.
If I didn't trust him, I wouldn't have left him.
Debbie and Caroline are feeling increasingly frustrated by the Edwardian world but, as well as the tearoom, the era saw the growth of another type of shop that offered a bit of freedom for women: The department store.
At a time when the Suffragettes were fighting for women to get the vote, Selfridge's in London's West End was, surprisingly, selling all kinds of merchandise for the Suffragette movement as Debbie and Caroline are about to discover from the store's historian.
You would have been able to buy any accessory, or blouse, or belt, or waistcoat in all the movement colours, here in the Suffrage department.
And the Suffrage movement, I think, is very interesting in terms of the way that they used shopping as a method to empower themselves.
Women go out and buy! Don't ask your husband's permission! - Go shopping for yourself! - Girl power.
Girl power's very important, but you did have to have the money to do it.
They were a very powerful movement, so here we have your "Votes for women".
- Your own sash.
- Oh, gosh! Department stores broke social taboos, even selling products like lipstick, albeit discreetly under the counter.
Ladies, would you like a sip of champagne, while you're here? There is a little bit of guilt attached to this.
I think I actually need to toughen up Caroline.
I don't feel any guilt whatsoever.
You know, I come here on a weekly basis, getting this done, and I will be just happy, spending Karl's money on this treatment, no guilt whatsoever.
Back in Shepton, Caroline is following in the footsteps of Suffragette campaigners and putting leaflets in the tearoom window.
NIGEL: I don't have a problem with that.
Giving them the vote is one thing, letting them into power is something else.
As long as it doesn't affect the business.
But Debbie isn't sure she could have played such a visible role.
I couldn't have been a front line person saying, "Yes, I fight for rights," and did all that, because it wouldn't have been good for our business.
What I would have liked to have done is maybe been behind the scenes and helping people, but being involved, but without maybe Karl knowing.
Everyone's settling into life on the Edwardian High Street (Oinks) (Laughter) - Good afternoon.
- Good afternoon.
but the age of elegance was not to last.
After 4th August 1914, nothing would be the same again.
- The First World War had begun.
- Hi, Raif.
I've got a letter for you.
To give a sense of the war's impact on the high street, the Chamber of Commerce has sent out call-up papers.
Right.
- Whittingham.
- Yeah, that's me.
There's your call-up papers.
(Laughs) It bloody is, as well.
"On 4th August 1914, war was declared and recruitment started without delay.
" "60,000 shop workers joined the war by 1915.
" 60,000! "All the men should leave the High Street.
Women and children, step up and do their bit.
" They're not really gonna kill you, bloody hell.
Cheer up.
"It was a bittersweet chance for women to prove their worth.
The men have 30 minutes to assemble in the Square".
Bloody hell.
We're gonna have to look after the place.
- "Jack shall leave, too".
- Oh, God! - "Many boys under 18 tried to join up.
" - No! "Those that could pass for 18 found their way to the front.
" (Gasps) "It is estimated that 120,000 British boy soldiers were killed or wounded during the Great War.
" No, Jack's not going.
He's not going.
Although the men are only going to spend time away from the street, it dawns on Caroline how it must have felt for women in her position.
(Sniffs) He's 15.
It's quite odd, cos this would happen.
In our day, in the day of Edwardian times, this happened.
People got an envelope like that, and that's it, you had to go, or you went to jail.
It happened.
- It's not happening to you.
Cheer up.
- I know.
Yeah, see, these lot don't kind of get it, but I do.
While the men are away, the women will do as women did in 1914.
They'll stay behind and run their husband's shop.
It took the war to give them the freedom they'd been fighting for.
Right, let's have your attention, please.
Let's not forget that people did this for real.
Let's have a little bit of respect and we're gonna march out of here with dignity.
Off we go.
CAROLINE: That was absolutely gut-wrenching (Sniffs) because I've lost Nigel and, worse than that, I've lost Jack.
I can't imagine how it was for wom I just can't imagine.
DEBBIE: You know, it is a shock, but, kind of, people react in different ways.
I felt a bit liberated, cos I thought, "I can run the shop, I can do what I want", and he will come back and maybe be really pleased with what we've done, fingers crossed.
The men start their time away with a visit to a World War I memorial in the local church.
Possibly, as an Edwardian man, I would have welcomed the fact that my son was big enough and tough enough to fight for King and country.
I'd be petrified, to be honest.
Absolutely petrified.
My son's just about to join Para, my eldest lad, and he's gonna be going to Afghanistan, cos he's going to join bomb disposal and that's - that's kind of scary.
The war had an immediate effect on the home front too.
Britain depended on imports for 60 per cent of its food supply and 80 per cent of its wheat.
We've got no window display.
They've taken all our stuff.
- What are we gonna do, Mum? - I don't know.
The Chamber of Commerce have stripped the shops of stock to show the effect German submarines had in cutting food supplies.
Well, there's nothing we can do at the end of the day, there's not much to sell.
We'll be working out here more than we'll be serving.
Guys, let's have a look and see what we've got.
Oh, good Lord.
For bakers, the wheat shortage became so severe, they had to make bread with potatoes.
Potatoes? It was challenging enough, actually, to think that I was gonna have to manage without Nigel and Jack and just produce basic bread.
That was gonna be challenging enough but we're having to produce something that is pretty inedible anyway, and that's all we've got.
How does? Do you know how to light the oven? Yeah, I do.
But, for 14-year-old Michael, it's a chance to run his dad's shop - something he'd never be allowed to do in the modern world.
I'm happy that we got rid of the apprentices.
I liked the guys, they were good and they were good butchers, but they took my work away from me.
Now the shop is gonna be run my way, which isn't faffing around, we're gonna get selling stuff.
He quickly proves to have consummate sales skills.
Could I interest you in trying some of this potted venison? Nice.
I'll take a quarter, thank you.
- That's £5, please.
- Thank you very much.
- You're determined to sell this, aren't you? - Yeah, I am.
I am.
Right, then, I'll have one pound's worth, please, cos you're such a lovely lad.
As food supplies dwindled, prices rose sharply.
Now that the Germans have got the submarines, everywhere's getting blown up so, unfortunately what you were paying yesterday has actually doubled today.
- I'll leave it, then.
Thanks very much.
- OK.
I'm sorry you're disappointed, but hopefully you'll come back soon.
- I will.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
- Thanks you very much.
Bye.
We are Edwardian grocers and all this lovely service that we were giving, service with a smile, had a lovely array of staff and now people are just coming in, like, "I'm not gonna bother.
" I think Karl's gonna come back and go, "You were absolutely crap.
" It's one thing to know what happened, but actually to see people living through, with the men gone and having to cope and everything to do, and they've got such spirit.
We've got an awful lot to learn from the past, I think.
I'm going to leave you to the front, babe, and I'm just going to carry on out here.
As well as running the shop, Debbie must still prepare six Edwardian delicacies for the wedding breakfast.
She starts with calf's-foot jelly.
Seriously, I'm not happy with the colour of that, but it's out of my control.
I just think it's actually maybe oxidised and just made it look a bit murky, but I don't know.
At the bakers, Caroline relies on Raif and a mechanical dough mixer to make the potato bread.
We're gonna Let's just see how we get on.
Try it - I tell you what, try it Can you go in reverse? Can you go in reverse? - That won't make any difference.
- Well, listen, half the stuff is Right.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Run, run, run.
(Squeals) Ooh, no.
(Laughs) Do you want to get the mop? Full of confidence, after some quick sales, Michael decides it's time to finish off the boar's head.
Decorating it with icing is the final stage.
Icing is definitely one of my strengths.
I tell you what, it's art.
And is this your piece for the banqueting table? It's supposed to be.
The same banqueting table that I actually worked really hard for and it's gonna be absolutely amazing? Yeah.
It was like a dog's dinner and I actually came in midway and I went, "Is that gonna be the presentation on the table?" And he went, "Yeah.
" - And I went, "I just don't think so.
" - (Laughter) Now, Debbie's got to salvage the centrepiece of the wedding banquet, - on top of everything else.
- Open the fridge, Caroline.
- I will.
- Do you know how to open it? You have to (Clicking) - I'll pull for you, cos it's very stiff.
- Thank you.
The pressure of the day finally gets to her.
DEBBIE: I'm just absolutely exhausted and I've been crying, I've been laughing.
I'm probably gonna get really upset.
(Sobs) You know, this was our history, this was what really happened but there was many grocers' wives out there, they had maybe four years of this hard slog and I'm really struggling now (Sniffs) and I think that's what it is.
(Bells chime) On November 11th 1918, bells rang out across Britain to signal the end of the war.
Brilliant! - Baby.
- Hello, love.
I missed you.
Shepton Mallet was changed forever by the conflict.
140 of its men never came home.
Those who came back returned to their former jobs, but the world had changed.
CAROLINE: Can we please talk about it as a partnership? I've proved that I can run this business whilst you're away, so perhaps we can renegotiate.
Of course you can run this business of a sort but, as I said, Jack and I are back now and we need to get this business back to where it was.
I'm not going to argue, but I would like to say that the business has been run a little more than "of a sorts".
In 1918, women finally got the vote, but only if they were over 30 and married.
Like the women, Michael also has to accept a demotion.
You can't start taking over now, you've been gone four years.
I'm back.
It's time for a celebration and soon the wedding couple will arrive.
Everyone is putting the finishing touches to their contributions.
At the forge, Simon polishes off his mirror.
It could be his last chance to prove a blacksmith has a place on the high street.
'Ey, that's great.
Gill finishes the bride's lace hanky.
She's also begun to convince women of the benefits of having bespoke clothes.
- Beautiful.
- Oh, wow! That is absolutely gorgeous.
- I'm so glad you like it.
- I love it.
- I might have to wear it Saturday night.
- Oh, you're gonna have to, definitely.
As the grocers begin to lay out the wedding breakfast, Gregg, Juliet and Tom arrive to find out if the shopkeepers have been successful in their mission: To convert modern shoppers to Edwardian service and make a profit.
For the shopping experience and the fact that you're getting a piece of clothing that is actually made for you, I think it's fantastic.
Only very wealthy people tend to have their clothes made for them.
I think the day of the hand-made clothes for everybody has been and gone.
One's on one table and one's on the other.
- Just - No, I did not say that.
It's so lovely, because it's so nice to go into a shop and be classed as a customer and not a number.
It's brought Shepton Mallet back to what it used to be years ago.
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
Much more civilised than the 1870 one.
Much more hygienic and a pleasure to be in.
It looks like the very expensive food halls in London look today.
They've obviously taken their style from this era and it works even now.
Even the potato bread is going down well.
We're actually getting quite a good loaf out of it, quite a good crumb.
It was a different taste to It tasted fresher.
The Chamber of Commerce retire to consider if the shopkeepers have really made the High Street a going concern, despite the war diminishing their ability to trade.
I tell you what proved to be a success and that was the dressmaker.
The ladies around here absolutely loved that shop.
That'll be great.
£85, please.
Someone like a dressmaker could survive.
She's got that great atmosphere that people love, but she's got to sell them high-end stuff.
I'm disappointed, I thought the teashop was a goldmine there waiting to be dug and I think it's their fault they broke their shovel.
They should have made fortunes this week.
It's probably more of a challenge than any of us realised.
Part of me is really pleased to see the back of this, because it has been so emotional and I've toiled.
Really, I've toiled.
The ironmonger, the Penny Bazaar: Not very good.
Almost half of what he did in the Victorian period.
- I think he's really got to rethink his business.
- His heart's not in it.
His heart's not in the selling of the Penny Bazaar, absolutely.
Now, what about the butcher? He had a fantastic display.
Andrew won't wanna hear it, but Michael is an absolute star in the making.
I think it was probably more positive for my son when he got rid of me.
In terms of marketing, he could learn a lot from his lad.
I haven't missed my dad whatsoever.
I wish he'd go away and let me do it on my own for the rest of my life.
GREGG: The grocer has done well again.
They've made £1,101.
18.
I'm not a gambling man but, looking at these figures, looking at the ledgers, I'd bet on this working, this High Street.
I'm proud of you, honey.
You've done a sterling job.
You've done really good.
Back on the High Street, the wedding breakfast is ready.
Time for the bride and groom to return.
- Hello.
- Wow! (Giggles) We've really worked hard, but I really hope you like it.
- I'm sure we will.
- Hello.
- It's nice to see you again.
- Nice to see you.
- Nice to see you.
- The mirror goes down well, but it's the only product Simon's been commissioned to make all week.
He's realising that the blacksmith's days on the high street are numbered.
SIMON: That's the bit that does make me sad, really.
I can see my craft just slowly disappearing over the years.
- Oh, it's beautiful.
- If people want to buy cheap quality, let's sell them cheap quality.
Oh, wow! Oh, look! I'm so glad that it wasn't just about coming in and buying dresses, it was about a service that they really enjoyed and a whole experience that they really enjoyed.
Well, he tells me that he's ordered a boar's head, which I'm slightly apprehensive about.
No.
Does it look less like a head than it did the other day? - No, it looks more like a head.
- No, it looks like a head.
OK.
Well, you'll enjoy this, won't you? - Right, are you ready? - Yeah, we're ready.
- You've gotta look.
Go on.
- Two, one Oh, my goodness! - Is that actually a head? - Oh, yeah, I boned that out.
- He said you were worth it, you see.
- Well, absolutely.
- I was worth it.
I was worth a boar's head.
- Yeah, yeah.
You've completed the second week and what we wanted to see is whether you could deliver outstanding customer service, to give your customers a sense of the showmanship and the display of the era.
By and large, I think a resounding very, very well done.
Michael, you are an absolute star in the making, young man.
- Of course I am.
I'm well better than him.
- (Laughter) Look, in one day, I took more money than we took all week, which means that he was just kind of holding me back.
If we were gonna give medals out - Debbie, outstanding.
I mean, truly outstanding.
The men went off to war and you have just worked your socks off.
Hats off to you, darling.
You grafted like a loony.
JULIET: I really think this has been the women's era at the end of this, because they've had to pick up when the men have gone off to the trenches.
It's just shown you, I think, how tough the life of an Edwardian shopkeeper was.
- It was not an easy life, it was hard - Incredibly tough.
and the rewards weren't all that great, so well done.
I know you've worked hard and it hasn't been easy, especially with the men going off to war, but there are plenty of smiles amongst the families here, so we wish you the best of luck with the next era, which is the 1930s.
I did really enjoy being out the front, and I enjoyed being with the customers but, you know, we are a team and I did feel like half of me was missing, really.
CAROLINE: I think the worst aspect of this era has been our cakes and I think the worst that could possibly happen to me in the next era is more cakes so, please, no more cakes.
Its high street was once its heart and soul.
Not any more.
But what if we could turn back time to the days of the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker? A group of shopkeepers and their families are leaving the 21 st century behind.
You are going to discover what the high street was really like.
Your aim is to make this town fall in love with this high street again.
Today's mantra is: Sell, sell, sell.
Every week, they'll be living and trading through a different era.
- Can we lift it? - From Victorian to Edwardian.
Rabbits! - Through peace time - (Laughter) and war time.
- (Air-raid siren) - (Giggles) - The Swinging '60s to the Shocking '70s.
(Laughter) 100 years of high street history.
It's absolutely magical.
Can they sell the products of the past to 21 st-century customers? - Oh, the poor creatures.
- I'd be frightened to give this to the birds.
- (Laughter) - Pimpin'! And can they make a profit while they're at it? This is unbelievably hard.
I don't know how these poor buggers did this in the old days.
If I'm really being honest, I hate it.
Tonight, the High Street arrives in the early 20th century an era of elegance, etiquette and emotional upheaval.
Right, keep going.
Keep going.
Run, run, run.
- (Squeals) Ooh, no.
(Laughs) - Do you wanna get the mop? Can the shopkeepers persuade people to love their high street once more? - Oh, Doreen, look! - Go on! Put it away.
These 21 st-century traders are now kitted out for the earliest years of the 20th century: The elegant age of the Edwardians.
For baking family the Devlins, anything's better than what they've just been through.
I think we had such a difficult time in the Victorian era.
We had nothing that would make our lives easier, in fact we had pretty much nothing at all.
Butchers the Sharps are looking forward to a more refined age.
Edwardian era will be more about etiquette, I think, and how we deal with customers.
This is when shopping began to be a leisure activity, as well as a necessity.
Britain was the world's richest nation and its shops were stuffed with luxuries, for those who could afford them.
This week, there's a new shopkeeperjoining the High Street - dressmaker Gill Cockwell.
She wants to return to a time before clothing was mass-produced.
I'm hoping that I'm going to have a shop full of ostrich feathers and I can go and put a feather in everyone's hat and make them more glamorous.
All the shopkeepers are heading to the historic heart of Shepton Mallet in Somerset, - where their shops await them.
- (Indistinct chatter) Their mission is to lure back shoppers to this unloved town centre and to make a profit.
Hello.
Oh, how exciting.
My shop's over there.
Making sure they stick to the rules of the era is the High Street's Chamber of Commerce: Social historian Juliet Gardiner, Tom Herbert a fifth generation baker, and Gregg Wallace, not just a judge on MasterChef, but also a successful greengrocer.
Welcome back to the Edwardian High Street.
Now you've already experienced a week as Victorian shopkeepers and you did pretty well.
So well, in fact, that I need to show you something.
This is the front page of the local newspaper.
- Look at that.
- Oh, wow! "A town reborn".
The residents of this town are starting to fall in love with their high street again, but now you've going to have to up your game.
The Edwardians expected a really high level of customer service.
Etiquette, salesmanship and service.
These are the key words.
Juliet and Tom will be popping in to see how you're getting on.
One last thing: Butchers, bakers, grocers meet your staff.
- Oh, I don't believe it! Fantastic.
- Oh, wow! The butchers, bakers and grocers will each have two new pairs of hands (Chuckles) Hello, chaps.
How are you? though Edwardian shops often had many more.
Hi.
Hi.
How are you going? - Hello.
I'm Polly.
- I'm Nigel, the baker.
The arrival of staff is by no means the biggest change.
The bakers are now offering more than bread.
Wow! Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
It's posh! (Laughter) Tearooms provided somewhere civilised on the high street for Edwardian ladies to socialise, without risking their reputation.
They're little infusers and you put the tea in.
Isn't that lovely? In the 21 st century, Caroline is the baker of the family and an equal business partner with Nigel.
But bread making was very much a man's role in the 1900s.
It was the same in the Victorian era, when Nigel struggled to learn the work Caroline was forbidden to do.
You can't blame me, I'm a woman.
I'm not meant to be in here.
Though Nigel remains in charge, there has been some progress for women, as the family learn from the rule book each shopkeeper has been provided with.
"The bakery is part of an important social change during the Edwardian era.
The women of the family will oversee the running and servicing of the tearoom".
I think, in this era, there's gonna be more opportunity for a woman to actually, well, make more of a name for herself as an individual, rather than standing behind her husband.
I think that bakery/teashop is going to be the absolute triumph of our Edwardian era.
- Ooh, that's very grand.
- It is, innit, eh? The Sergison family are pleased to see their grocery store has gone upmarket too.
DEBBIE: Oh, wow! - Very nice, isn't it? - Oh, I like this.
- Hell of a lot bigger.
Lavish displays were common, even at shops which were basically the Edwardian equivalent of supermarkets.
And, amid the grandeur, are brands that are still around today.
KARL: All the packaged tea now, no more weighing our own blend out.
DEBBIE: Lyons.
- We've got Typhoo.
I knew Typhoo was around.
But some of their stock wouldn't be allowed by modern trading standards.
- Obesity soap.
- Obesity? - (Laughs) KARL: What on earth is obesity soap? "Use like an ordinary soap.
Positively reduces fat, without dieting or gymnastics.
" I'm gonna find the fattest bird who comes in my shop and I'm gonna see if I can flog it to them.
(Laughs) Karl and his family are getting better and better.
They're gonna have a great week.
Gosh, no more constipation for Debbie.
I've got melon.
- (Laughs) Superb.
- I have fruit.
The Sharps have been butchers for generations, but Andrew recently lost his business.
Andrew was desperate to be a butcher in the heyday of butchery, and this is it.
He is now a master butcher with staff.
Andrew's hoping this experience will teach his 14-year-old son Michael how respected the family trade once was.
So I guess I'm working behind here, am I? You'll be out there and I'll be in here, watching what's going on.
No, you can't, you're t'main man.
When I first started work in a butcher's shop, this is what it was like.
Maisie behind the desk.
Miserable Maisie.
(Gruffly) How much? (Laughs) Just like in the Victorian era, they've no fridge in which to keep their stock cool, just an ice box.
And what's in it this time round is something of a surprise.
- What's that? Is that a badger? - Wild rabbits, wild ducks, pheasant.
Unlike today, game was a staple of the Edwardian diet, for rich and poor alike.
The people of Shepton Mallet probably have never had anything to do with game in their life, unless they're really old.
Hanging rabbits and pheasants is gonna go down very badly.
It was bad enough with pigs' heads.
Game in restaurants, smart restaurants, yes.
Game in the high street, I'm not too sure.
I think he's got his work cut out.
The big revolution on the High Street is the shop which has replaced the Victorian ironmonger's.
Ah, that's a bit of a shock.
"Penny Bazaar".
I wonder what that means.
It's the era's equivalent of a Pound Shop.
It's not the kind of store Simon Grant-Jones was hoping to run.
I am a little bit disappointed that I'm not valued in this period as much as in the Victorian era.
Simon previously spent much of his time making his own stock in a forge at the back of his shop.
A blacksmith in the 21 st century, he proved his skills once had a place right at the heart of the high street.
But, already, his craft is looking redundant.
The bulk of his stock is now factory-made.
It does go against the grain to serve this sort of stuff.
I'm not really all about mass-produced items.
I mean, I'm a craftsman at heart.
Unlike the Victorian era, I think Simon's got a lot more things to sell, He should attract a lot more customers, but it's him, himself.
Is he a shopkeeper? - I think he wants to make things.
- Yeah.
We're getting now into the Edwardian era, where things are moving maybe a little bit faster.
People want things a little bit quicker, so they're possibly willing to settle for a little less quality.
Above the Penny Bazaar is the parlour where new arrival Gill will try to make and sell dresses.
Oh, fantastic.
I love it.
I absolutely love it.
She's the only woman on the Edwardian High Street allowed to run her own business.
This is a proper corset-making dummy.
I've always wanted one of these.
Needlework was one of the few respectable trades a woman could go into.
The dressmaker's gonna have quite a challenge.
She's got to attract women into her shop.
Now how is she gonna make a profit? Modern-day customers are used to going into shops, trying things on, getting them cheap.
I just want to play dress-up now, I want to try everything on.
(Giggles) For the next week, the shopkeepers will live and trade like it's the 1900s.
- Pickled eggs.
- 10,000 people live in Shepton Mallet.
All are potential customers, but most currently go to the other end of town where the modern superstores are.
Will the shopkeepers be able to convince them that Edwardian personal service is a match for modern convenience shopping? Right's it's day one.
Very busy.
Customers coming in about an hour.
Basically, we want to get stuck in.
We're gonna stack all the shelves.
If something's got a high-end smell like boot polish, don't put it in the same cupboard as the tea.
- Just twiddle it a bit back and forward.
- I can't hear.
Karl really is having a ball here, you know.
He is the grand fromage.
He can boss people about and do very little, apart from be very gracious to his customers and that's him down to a tee.
It's 20 to nine.
We've got 20 minutes to go and we officially open for business.
First day, big day, big smiles, everyone happy.
None of this is going to be straightforward.
Chicken is very straightforward and so is pork chops but, after that, tongues, pigeons, you know, any game, venison, it's all Bambi, Watership Down It's all those, you know, emotive connotations that the modern customer has got.
I'm excited about meeting my first customer.
Maybe I'll take a commission today.
I hope so.
There's just enough time before opening to focus on the finer points of Edwardian-style service.
It's "Sir", it's "Ma'am", it's "Miss", it's "Master" and it's "Mistress" for the little ones.
Do not make any personal remarks to them.
You have to be detached but very, very pleasant to them.
Make sure your aprons are ironed and your hats are nice and fresh.
Lesson over, it's time to start trading.
The first customers have all been persuaded by the Chamber of Commerce to shop only on the Edwardian High Street.
In this new era, I'm expecting far more produce.
Much more colour, much more stock and I might be surprised by the things in the shops.
- Does that make you thin, the obesity soap? - Well, apparently so.
You rub it really hard and it rubs it off, apparently.
(Chuckles) As you can see, we're rather banged out at the moment.
- Would you like to take a seat and I can help? - Thank you very much.
- Six apples, please.
- OK, six apples.
- And a big bunch of grapes.
- A big bunch of red grapes.
Bunch of grapes.
So if you get the large bunch of grapes, can we interest you in any of our cheese? I would like some potatoes, half a dozen eggs, three onions.
Have you got any tapioca? Oh, the poor creatures, hanging up.
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
- What is this? - That's a muntjac deer.
- If I get a rabbit, will you prepare it so it's? - All done.
CUSTOMER: Don't worry, darling, you can just have some vegetables.
One of Simon's first customers is a fellow shopkeeper- Caroline from the tearoom.
We're looking for tea plates, cups and saucers.
I quite like this.
This is very pretty.
- That's quite nice, actually, isn't it? - And we could have it on account, - until the end of the week? - That would be fine.
For the Edwardians, the idea of handling goods while you browsed was such a novelty, they feared they'd be charged for the privilege, hence the "admittance free" sign.
You can have a good old rummage, can't you? It's nice, I like buttons and cotton reels and bits of chalk, and things like that.
Although the signs say you only need spend a penny, the old prices are merely to give a flavour of the cost for Edwardians.
Shepton's customers are, in fact, charged the modern equivalent.
- How much are those? - A penny.
- In new money? - 41 p.
Thank you very much.
The early signs are that Edwardian service is working.
Oh, the service was just fantastic.
I felt like a lady.
I was asked to sit down and, "What would you like, madam?" And it was a master and missus and I just thought it was just wonderful.
The teashop is due to open at lunchtime, but there's still work to do.
Though ladies would still not bake bread, Caroline is allowed to make the cakes, but she needs the manual to tell her how.
I am not a cake maker and my children will vouch for that.
Worse still, butter in the Edwardian period was seriously expensive.
Lard was much cheaper, making the animal fat most women's favourite.
You don't like that do you, Mum, cos you're a vegetarian? I can't believe it's got lard in it.
There seems to be lard in everything, absolutely everything, in the bread, in cakes.
It's vile, to be honest.
It looks awful.
Right, we've gotta get this cake in the oven.
Come on.
Aren't you impressed? - With what? - The master baker - and he's drying the dishes.
- Aren't you good? What is it, a woman's job? - (Cackles) But, next door, after just two hours, Michael's already bored.
There's too much help on hand.
I can't really do anything and I can't wait till we get rid of the apprentices.
Not that I don't like them, they are good but, when we get rid of them, I can do more.
With so little to do in the shop, he takes it upon himself to drum up business around town.
Rabbits! Pheasants! Pigeons! Venison! But the products are a little less processed than modern shoppers are used to.
- Hello.
- Could I interest you in any game at all? I wouldn't know what to do with it if I had it.
What do you have to do to it? You just basically do that all the way round.
- Oh, right.
- Like that, like meat.
If you'd like to pop round to Sharp and Sons, if I have persuaded you enough Pheasants! Rabbits! Pigeons! Go to Sharp and Sons.
Could I interest you in any game at all? Oh, look! God, it's years ago since I did anything with that and I couldn't do it now.
- Oh, Doreen, look.
- Ooh, go on, put it away! - I couldn't skin it.
- You can cook it like chicken.
- Ooh, I know.
- It comes out like a baby if you stuff it.
- Yeah.
Thanks for your time.
- Bye-bye, then.
Cheerio.
Dressmaker Gill is attempting to drum up some business too.
- That's lovely on you.
That's really charming.
- I must go and look.
It really suits you.
The garments being tried on are just samples.
Wealthier Edwardian ladies would never have bought ready-made off-the-peg dresses.
If you were lucky enough to be a rich woman, you wouldn't have to work, you could just sit on a lawn and eat scones.
Gill's hoping to encourage customers to order a custom-made dress from her.
And that's what she does in the 21 st century, too.
Once you have something made, and it fits perfectly, it's quite an addictive thing.
She wants to take her customers back to a time when handmade clothes were all that women wore.
I'd like to create real genuine items that you can treasure as opposed to just throwaway fashion, which you wear twice and then replace.
I love the fact that the fabrics are all so much nicer.
- I can't even shop any more - Everything feels because everything's acrylic and polyester - and I just feel it and go, "It's not very inspiring".
- No.
Just go back to the workshop and make something.
(Laughs) It's now lunchtime and the teashop is due to start serving up cakes, but Caroline hasn't yet managed to get to grips with the Edwardian oven.
It looks good on top, but it's kind of moving underneath.
It's raw.
And we're talking at least two-and-a-half hours in, if not more.
- Just put it back in.
- Put it back in, chuck, leave it.
Queues of intrigued customers are gathering outside.
Is that all those people wanting to come for tea? Please tell me not.
We just have to wing it and we just say, just"Due to unforeseen circumstances, this is available.
" An Edwardian teashop would have served everything from seed cake to Swiss roll.
The only thing in Caroline's are six scones and a half-eaten ginger cake Nigel baked earlier in their living quarters above the shop.
- I don't have any other cake.
We need that.
- Will you listen? I don't wanna bring the cake down in front of the customers.
- Well, wrap the damn thing up.
- I haven't got anything to wrap it in.
- But why don't you prepare it up there? - Dad, I've got paper here.
Get a paper bag? Get a paper bag, bring it.
I can't be carrying it through, once Jack, go and get it.
Take the paper bag upstairs and go and get it.
You've got people waiting outside.
You've got to get them in.
Come on.
- OK.
- OK.
All right.
- Would you like to come with me? - Thank you.
Two English breakfast teas.
What cake would you like? - Sorry - Sorry? On the menu is there's a tiny bit of ginger cake, there's a scone and erm sandwiches.
That is it, unfortunately, cos our oven has kind of cut out.
Well, it's not working very well.
Saffron, get your hands out of there now.
Cup of tea and a scone, please.
I will have a slice of ginger cake, please.
Within minutes, the ginger cake and scones are gone.
- I can't serve them that as two slices.
- No, that is one slice.
- OK, that's fine, and that's it? - Yeah.
OK.
- Ginger cake.
- Thank you.
The teapots are dripping everywhere and not very organised today.
Tea and honey cake? - Unfortunately, we have no cake.
- No more cake.
We had a problem with cooking everything ready in time.
- What have you got? - I'm afraid we have no more cakes.
- Never mind, eh? - We'll have sandwiches instead.
Gill has some customers, though not yet a commission for a dress.
- (Laughter) - It's a really good fit, actually.
It feels fab.
A respectable Edwardian, would of course, conceal a corset under layers of clothes.
A hundred years later You want this for outerwear, rather than underwear? - Yes.
women are clearly less constrained and Gill is managing to combine Edwardian personal service with modern fashion.
Have a look in the mirror.
It gives you a great shape.
- That's amazing.
- Crikey! That does look good.
I like that.
For Gill, it's a first step towards converting the town to the advantages of handmade.
If you did want this one, I could alter it and make it look like outerwear by smoothing off this edge here, which I could do by hand.
And then I could add some sort of lace - or a ruffle or a frill on top.
- I think that would be fantastic.
You can see that she put thought into it immediately, "Right, this is my client's needs and this is what I'm gonna do to sort of do that and produce something that satisfies it".
As if the shopkeepers don't have enough to contend with, the Chamber of Commerce have set them one more challenge for this era.
They've sent a very special pair of customers to the High Street.
Will and Katie are about to get married, and want some Edwardian embellishment for their reception.
Weddings of the era reached new heights of luxury.
The upper-class fashion for lavish spectacle was increasingly taken up by middle-class couples too.
The Sergisons have been told they need to rustle up the perfect wedding breakfast.
The other shopkeepers will make items to go with it.
"You should not only recreate the look seen in this picture, but produce some delicacies for the table that your customers can try for a pre-wedding celebration at the end of the era.
Decide which six of these you would like to supply.
Blancmange, trifle, rabbit soufflé, whole tongue, truffles, semolina croquettes, orange jelly, calf's-foot jelly" That is nice.
"coffee jelly and oyster patties".
That's gonna be fun.
That really is gonna be fun.
- Take care.
- Thank you.
As the bride and groom continue their shopping, Karl summons his family for a meeting.
There's a lot to do there and not only have we got to produce the food, we've got to dress this table and acquire the dressage equipment to make it look pretty.
I would really love to make the garland, cos I've made them before and it's rea How much you'd love to do 'em is irrelevant.
We've got a lot of work to do, you've got to source this out.
We've got a shop to run and lots of other things that we've got to do.
I know I can do it.
I can do it, you just don't want me to do it.
- I know you can do it.
- I know, but I want to, Karl.
You know, I just don't know what your problem is.
Might as well just leave it.
You're doing my head in.
Oh, golly.
Sorry.
Deb? Where are you, babe? I think them two just need to decide which one's actually boss.
- Do you take sugar, Katie? - No thank you.
- Would you like a biscuit? - I'm OK, thank you, actually.
Gill is meeting bride-to-be Katie to discuss what she can run up for the wedding.
So how long have you been dressmaking? But, as Katie enjoys the genteel atmosphere of a dressmaker's parlour her fiancé is about to discover not everything Edwardian is quite so appealing to modern tastes.
- We have a boar's head.
- Wild boar? - Yes.
- I don't think he'd be allowed on top table.
- (Laughter) - Katie would not be The beast will be stuffed and decorated, to form the centrepiece of a 1900-style wedding breakfast.
I'm intrigued as to what Katie will think.
She doesn't like bones on her plate, so how she'll feel about a boar's head, I'm not sure.
That would make a lovely handkerchief which I could embroider with your wedding date.
How about the idea of having my initials actually made out of lace and put into the hanky? I could make you the hanky - and then stitch the lace on.
- That would be lovely.
This will test your diplomacy and skills of negotiation.
(Laughter) You'll have to learn your new skills as a husband on how to move your wife in the direction which you want her to and not the one she wants to.
It's not quite as easy as it might sound.
It's a very dirty job.
To prepare the head, Andrew must first burn the hair off.
This is a bit like my normal barbeque technique, this.
He must then take the skull out stuff it with rich meats finally, once cooked, he must decorate it with an elaborate pattern of icing sugar.
It's going to be a table centrepiece at a nice wedding, so we'll try and achieve something like that.
With no more cakes to sell, the Devlin's teashop is closing early.
We survived.
I think that's about the best we can say.
There were some seriously disappointed children out there, there wasn't enough food.
It was hard to keep your etiquette and manners, trying to be an Edwardian when all you wanna do is say, "I'm sorry there's none of this, none of that" - And there's another problem.
- (Giggles) This one's been in for half a day.
This is my Madeira.
Can I just say that I didn't think I could make cakes, but I really didn't think I could make them this badly, OK? Caroline believes using lard is why the cakes didn't cook, but replacing it with more expensive butter will eat into profits.
We can't afford to buy the butter from the grocer's.
- No, we can't.
- We can't.
- So what are going to do, master baker? - Put lard in instead.
- No we can't.
- Why not? - It's a cheaper ingredient.
- I can't do that.
Food was much more expensive for Edwardians.
They spent up to 70 per cent of their income on it, as opposed to just 10 per cent today.
Butter was four times the price it is now.
I could go and source it elsewhere.
The shopkeepers have pledged to shop only on the Edwardian High Street.
So we're going to see if we can find another shop where we can buy it a bit cheaper.
Going to a modern supermarket breaks the rules, even if the shop they're visiting was open in the Edwardian era.
- Look straight ahead.
Don't look.
- Yeah, but we've got to look for butter, Mum.
- We're just gonna buy butter.
- How much are How many are there? - That's it.
There we go.
Look.
- All right.
Four Eight.
OK.
OK.
This is good.
I think we're doing well.
It's 7:00pm and the shops start to close up.
- Thank you.
Goodnight.
- Good night.
See you later.
Bye-bye.
At the grocer, Harry tots up the day's takings.
We've taken just shy of 200 quid today, which is not including accounts yet.
- That's very good.
- It's been a good day - for the men.
After a disastrous start in the teashop, Caroline's still grafting, making bread and butter pudding to sell the next day, though It's not a recipe of the era.
Here we are at half-past seven, preparing for tomorrow, really having to make up a lot of ground and I think we've kind of slid backwards again.
Can you manage down here, or not? And Caroline's not the only woman on the High Street who's feeling frustrated.
I was really cross with Karl, because I was saying, "I really want to do the garland", and Karl kept saying no.
It was just really frustrating me, because I knew I could do it.
Next morning, at the Penny Bazaar, there's a new recruit: 12-year-old Raif, the baker's son.
Come in.
Blacksmith Simon is losing interest in his shop and wants to get back to his forge.
I've just come to an arrangement with your dad that you're going to work for me for today and maybe some more during the week, we'll see, we'll see how you get on.
The pricing is quite important.
You've got to get it right.
Don't let everybody tell you that everything in here's a penny, cos it's not.
The stuff out there on the barrow, on the table, any of that is a penny, but the stuff in here is priced differently.
- I'm trusting you on this.
- Yeah.
- It's a responsible job, this is.
- Yeah.
- You think you can do it? - Yeah.
- OK.
Don't let me down.
- Yeah.
The prosperity of the Edwardian era was partly thanks to the exploitation of children.
Children as young as eight worked for as little as £15 a week in today's money.
- How much are these? - They're 40p.
Everything on the table is 40p.
40p.
- I need roughly about six of them.
- Yeah.
It says that they're £6.
50 each.
- It says everything in this shop's a penny.
- I've been told not to accept that.
By the Edwardian period, Simon's ironmongery skills would only be needed for luxury items.
He's making a mirror for the wedding couple: His big chance to show modern customers the advantages of hand-crafted goods.
Other people have got to look at this and think, "God, I'd like to order one of those.
I'd really like one of those for myself".
So it is very important that it's delivered on time, a good job, well finished, and to the customer's specification.
If I don't do that, I'm in danger of losing some potential commissions.
- Mrs Towner, how are you? - I've got my order for you.
At the grocer's, Karl perfects his personal service.
Sit down there.
We'll go through it.
- We'll make sure I've got everything for you.
- You have to shout.
But his wife Debbie is still stuck out back, preparing food for the wedding breakfast.
If we were back in Edwardian times and Karl was my strict husband who said, "Right, this is what you've gotta do," I don't think I would have went down the line of being a married woman.
I really feel sorry for women in the Edwardian era, they really didn't have a say.
At the teashop, last night's hard work seems to have paid off.
We're ahead of ourselves.
We're all right and we've actually got stuff out.
Fantastic.
So even if we haven't got what they want, we can offer them something else whereas, yesterday, we were literally down to cucumber sandwiches and bread and jam.
And to help things run more smoothly, Nigel has agreed to wait tables.
In terms of the etiquette, yeah, I'm aware that the men or the man didn't actually serve, but we'll see how it goes.
What's important here is customer service.
But, just when they think they're getting on top of it, along come Tom and Juliet from the Chamber of Commerce.
It's not normally the done thing, in Edwardian times, but I'll take your order.
I have a bit of a problem with Mr Devlin and his etiquette.
He's a bit chatty.
- You obviously keep 'em under control.
- I wish.
(Laughter) Good day, ma'am.
I'd like the pot of tea for one and I'd like a plate of cucumber sandwiches and, then, I think I'll have a couple of cakes.
- I think I'll have a slice of ginger cake.
- One pot of tea.
I'm afraid we don't have any ginger cake at the moment.
Would you like to know what cakes we do have? - Erm have you a lemon cake? - No, I'm so sorry.
We have bread and butter pudding cake.
- Perhaps I could have a word with Caroline? - Yes, of course.
The role of historian Juliet is to make sure the shopkeepers are sticking to the rules of the era, and she's seeing some problems with the Edwardian teashop.
I was horrified when I came into the teashop to see one of your waitresses wearing a dirty work apron in the shop.
It might be fine for in the kitchen, that's OK.
Never come into the shop with a dirty apron like that.
I asked for some ginger cake, no ginger cake.
No lemon cake.
You're not really fulfilling your menu.
And then I was offered bread and butter pudding cake.
Now you're not a workman's café, you're a teashop.
You're a lady's teashop.
Dainty is the word we're looking for here, not, you know, rib-sticking fare.
I don't want to see you, Nigel, in the teashop.
I just don't want you serving.
This is women serving and women serving quietly and daintily and very formally.
You really must keep up standards in this Edwardian teashop.
A good business is about developing a rapport with their customers and actually making their customers feel they care about them, and that they're interested in their lives, that is the 2010 way.
This is a complete contradiction to that.
Tom arrives at the Penny Bazaar with two bicycles for Simon to sell.
He might struggle, since they cost the equivalent of around £1,300 in today's money.
Despite that, cycling was a highly popular Edwardian hobby, particularly for ladies.
- Hi, Tom.
- Is Simon here? Actually, he's doing some of his forgery orders in the forge so - So you're boying manning the shop? - Yeah, at the moment, yeah.
- Bit of pocket money? - Erm well, long story, really.
- Oh, right.
- Yeah.
What? We're in a bit of debt with him because, when we found out we had to run the tearooms, we had to have, like, china and that and that's quite expensive, so we had no money, - so I've gotta kind of work it back in here.
- Oh, right, OK.
- Well, I've brought you a couple of bikes.
- Awesome! Whoa.
I suppose you were lucky to have a bike, weren't you? So that's what I am - lucky.
While Tom checks in with Simon - Is he managing all right? - Yeah, I think so.
Raif's unable to resist temptation.
I'm really pleased, actually, cos he's quite a sensible lad.
(Rings bell) I'm confident that Raif can look after the shop.
If I didn't trust him, I wouldn't have left him.
Debbie and Caroline are feeling increasingly frustrated by the Edwardian world but, as well as the tearoom, the era saw the growth of another type of shop that offered a bit of freedom for women: The department store.
At a time when the Suffragettes were fighting for women to get the vote, Selfridge's in London's West End was, surprisingly, selling all kinds of merchandise for the Suffragette movement as Debbie and Caroline are about to discover from the store's historian.
You would have been able to buy any accessory, or blouse, or belt, or waistcoat in all the movement colours, here in the Suffrage department.
And the Suffrage movement, I think, is very interesting in terms of the way that they used shopping as a method to empower themselves.
Women go out and buy! Don't ask your husband's permission! - Go shopping for yourself! - Girl power.
Girl power's very important, but you did have to have the money to do it.
They were a very powerful movement, so here we have your "Votes for women".
- Your own sash.
- Oh, gosh! Department stores broke social taboos, even selling products like lipstick, albeit discreetly under the counter.
Ladies, would you like a sip of champagne, while you're here? There is a little bit of guilt attached to this.
I think I actually need to toughen up Caroline.
I don't feel any guilt whatsoever.
You know, I come here on a weekly basis, getting this done, and I will be just happy, spending Karl's money on this treatment, no guilt whatsoever.
Back in Shepton, Caroline is following in the footsteps of Suffragette campaigners and putting leaflets in the tearoom window.
NIGEL: I don't have a problem with that.
Giving them the vote is one thing, letting them into power is something else.
As long as it doesn't affect the business.
But Debbie isn't sure she could have played such a visible role.
I couldn't have been a front line person saying, "Yes, I fight for rights," and did all that, because it wouldn't have been good for our business.
What I would have liked to have done is maybe been behind the scenes and helping people, but being involved, but without maybe Karl knowing.
Everyone's settling into life on the Edwardian High Street (Oinks) (Laughter) - Good afternoon.
- Good afternoon.
but the age of elegance was not to last.
After 4th August 1914, nothing would be the same again.
- The First World War had begun.
- Hi, Raif.
I've got a letter for you.
To give a sense of the war's impact on the high street, the Chamber of Commerce has sent out call-up papers.
Right.
- Whittingham.
- Yeah, that's me.
There's your call-up papers.
(Laughs) It bloody is, as well.
"On 4th August 1914, war was declared and recruitment started without delay.
" "60,000 shop workers joined the war by 1915.
" 60,000! "All the men should leave the High Street.
Women and children, step up and do their bit.
" They're not really gonna kill you, bloody hell.
Cheer up.
"It was a bittersweet chance for women to prove their worth.
The men have 30 minutes to assemble in the Square".
Bloody hell.
We're gonna have to look after the place.
- "Jack shall leave, too".
- Oh, God! - "Many boys under 18 tried to join up.
" - No! "Those that could pass for 18 found their way to the front.
" (Gasps) "It is estimated that 120,000 British boy soldiers were killed or wounded during the Great War.
" No, Jack's not going.
He's not going.
Although the men are only going to spend time away from the street, it dawns on Caroline how it must have felt for women in her position.
(Sniffs) He's 15.
It's quite odd, cos this would happen.
In our day, in the day of Edwardian times, this happened.
People got an envelope like that, and that's it, you had to go, or you went to jail.
It happened.
- It's not happening to you.
Cheer up.
- I know.
Yeah, see, these lot don't kind of get it, but I do.
While the men are away, the women will do as women did in 1914.
They'll stay behind and run their husband's shop.
It took the war to give them the freedom they'd been fighting for.
Right, let's have your attention, please.
Let's not forget that people did this for real.
Let's have a little bit of respect and we're gonna march out of here with dignity.
Off we go.
CAROLINE: That was absolutely gut-wrenching (Sniffs) because I've lost Nigel and, worse than that, I've lost Jack.
I can't imagine how it was for wom I just can't imagine.
DEBBIE: You know, it is a shock, but, kind of, people react in different ways.
I felt a bit liberated, cos I thought, "I can run the shop, I can do what I want", and he will come back and maybe be really pleased with what we've done, fingers crossed.
The men start their time away with a visit to a World War I memorial in the local church.
Possibly, as an Edwardian man, I would have welcomed the fact that my son was big enough and tough enough to fight for King and country.
I'd be petrified, to be honest.
Absolutely petrified.
My son's just about to join Para, my eldest lad, and he's gonna be going to Afghanistan, cos he's going to join bomb disposal and that's - that's kind of scary.
The war had an immediate effect on the home front too.
Britain depended on imports for 60 per cent of its food supply and 80 per cent of its wheat.
We've got no window display.
They've taken all our stuff.
- What are we gonna do, Mum? - I don't know.
The Chamber of Commerce have stripped the shops of stock to show the effect German submarines had in cutting food supplies.
Well, there's nothing we can do at the end of the day, there's not much to sell.
We'll be working out here more than we'll be serving.
Guys, let's have a look and see what we've got.
Oh, good Lord.
For bakers, the wheat shortage became so severe, they had to make bread with potatoes.
Potatoes? It was challenging enough, actually, to think that I was gonna have to manage without Nigel and Jack and just produce basic bread.
That was gonna be challenging enough but we're having to produce something that is pretty inedible anyway, and that's all we've got.
How does? Do you know how to light the oven? Yeah, I do.
But, for 14-year-old Michael, it's a chance to run his dad's shop - something he'd never be allowed to do in the modern world.
I'm happy that we got rid of the apprentices.
I liked the guys, they were good and they were good butchers, but they took my work away from me.
Now the shop is gonna be run my way, which isn't faffing around, we're gonna get selling stuff.
He quickly proves to have consummate sales skills.
Could I interest you in trying some of this potted venison? Nice.
I'll take a quarter, thank you.
- That's £5, please.
- Thank you very much.
- You're determined to sell this, aren't you? - Yeah, I am.
I am.
Right, then, I'll have one pound's worth, please, cos you're such a lovely lad.
As food supplies dwindled, prices rose sharply.
Now that the Germans have got the submarines, everywhere's getting blown up so, unfortunately what you were paying yesterday has actually doubled today.
- I'll leave it, then.
Thanks very much.
- OK.
I'm sorry you're disappointed, but hopefully you'll come back soon.
- I will.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
- Thanks you very much.
Bye.
We are Edwardian grocers and all this lovely service that we were giving, service with a smile, had a lovely array of staff and now people are just coming in, like, "I'm not gonna bother.
" I think Karl's gonna come back and go, "You were absolutely crap.
" It's one thing to know what happened, but actually to see people living through, with the men gone and having to cope and everything to do, and they've got such spirit.
We've got an awful lot to learn from the past, I think.
I'm going to leave you to the front, babe, and I'm just going to carry on out here.
As well as running the shop, Debbie must still prepare six Edwardian delicacies for the wedding breakfast.
She starts with calf's-foot jelly.
Seriously, I'm not happy with the colour of that, but it's out of my control.
I just think it's actually maybe oxidised and just made it look a bit murky, but I don't know.
At the bakers, Caroline relies on Raif and a mechanical dough mixer to make the potato bread.
We're gonna Let's just see how we get on.
Try it - I tell you what, try it Can you go in reverse? Can you go in reverse? - That won't make any difference.
- Well, listen, half the stuff is Right.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Run, run, run.
(Squeals) Ooh, no.
(Laughs) Do you want to get the mop? Full of confidence, after some quick sales, Michael decides it's time to finish off the boar's head.
Decorating it with icing is the final stage.
Icing is definitely one of my strengths.
I tell you what, it's art.
And is this your piece for the banqueting table? It's supposed to be.
The same banqueting table that I actually worked really hard for and it's gonna be absolutely amazing? Yeah.
It was like a dog's dinner and I actually came in midway and I went, "Is that gonna be the presentation on the table?" And he went, "Yeah.
" - And I went, "I just don't think so.
" - (Laughter) Now, Debbie's got to salvage the centrepiece of the wedding banquet, - on top of everything else.
- Open the fridge, Caroline.
- I will.
- Do you know how to open it? You have to (Clicking) - I'll pull for you, cos it's very stiff.
- Thank you.
The pressure of the day finally gets to her.
DEBBIE: I'm just absolutely exhausted and I've been crying, I've been laughing.
I'm probably gonna get really upset.
(Sobs) You know, this was our history, this was what really happened but there was many grocers' wives out there, they had maybe four years of this hard slog and I'm really struggling now (Sniffs) and I think that's what it is.
(Bells chime) On November 11th 1918, bells rang out across Britain to signal the end of the war.
Brilliant! - Baby.
- Hello, love.
I missed you.
Shepton Mallet was changed forever by the conflict.
140 of its men never came home.
Those who came back returned to their former jobs, but the world had changed.
CAROLINE: Can we please talk about it as a partnership? I've proved that I can run this business whilst you're away, so perhaps we can renegotiate.
Of course you can run this business of a sort but, as I said, Jack and I are back now and we need to get this business back to where it was.
I'm not going to argue, but I would like to say that the business has been run a little more than "of a sorts".
In 1918, women finally got the vote, but only if they were over 30 and married.
Like the women, Michael also has to accept a demotion.
You can't start taking over now, you've been gone four years.
I'm back.
It's time for a celebration and soon the wedding couple will arrive.
Everyone is putting the finishing touches to their contributions.
At the forge, Simon polishes off his mirror.
It could be his last chance to prove a blacksmith has a place on the high street.
'Ey, that's great.
Gill finishes the bride's lace hanky.
She's also begun to convince women of the benefits of having bespoke clothes.
- Beautiful.
- Oh, wow! That is absolutely gorgeous.
- I'm so glad you like it.
- I love it.
- I might have to wear it Saturday night.
- Oh, you're gonna have to, definitely.
As the grocers begin to lay out the wedding breakfast, Gregg, Juliet and Tom arrive to find out if the shopkeepers have been successful in their mission: To convert modern shoppers to Edwardian service and make a profit.
For the shopping experience and the fact that you're getting a piece of clothing that is actually made for you, I think it's fantastic.
Only very wealthy people tend to have their clothes made for them.
I think the day of the hand-made clothes for everybody has been and gone.
One's on one table and one's on the other.
- Just - No, I did not say that.
It's so lovely, because it's so nice to go into a shop and be classed as a customer and not a number.
It's brought Shepton Mallet back to what it used to be years ago.
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
Much more civilised than the 1870 one.
Much more hygienic and a pleasure to be in.
It looks like the very expensive food halls in London look today.
They've obviously taken their style from this era and it works even now.
Even the potato bread is going down well.
We're actually getting quite a good loaf out of it, quite a good crumb.
It was a different taste to It tasted fresher.
The Chamber of Commerce retire to consider if the shopkeepers have really made the High Street a going concern, despite the war diminishing their ability to trade.
I tell you what proved to be a success and that was the dressmaker.
The ladies around here absolutely loved that shop.
That'll be great.
£85, please.
Someone like a dressmaker could survive.
She's got that great atmosphere that people love, but she's got to sell them high-end stuff.
I'm disappointed, I thought the teashop was a goldmine there waiting to be dug and I think it's their fault they broke their shovel.
They should have made fortunes this week.
It's probably more of a challenge than any of us realised.
Part of me is really pleased to see the back of this, because it has been so emotional and I've toiled.
Really, I've toiled.
The ironmonger, the Penny Bazaar: Not very good.
Almost half of what he did in the Victorian period.
- I think he's really got to rethink his business.
- His heart's not in it.
His heart's not in the selling of the Penny Bazaar, absolutely.
Now, what about the butcher? He had a fantastic display.
Andrew won't wanna hear it, but Michael is an absolute star in the making.
I think it was probably more positive for my son when he got rid of me.
In terms of marketing, he could learn a lot from his lad.
I haven't missed my dad whatsoever.
I wish he'd go away and let me do it on my own for the rest of my life.
GREGG: The grocer has done well again.
They've made £1,101.
18.
I'm not a gambling man but, looking at these figures, looking at the ledgers, I'd bet on this working, this High Street.
I'm proud of you, honey.
You've done a sterling job.
You've done really good.
Back on the High Street, the wedding breakfast is ready.
Time for the bride and groom to return.
- Hello.
- Wow! (Giggles) We've really worked hard, but I really hope you like it.
- I'm sure we will.
- Hello.
- It's nice to see you again.
- Nice to see you.
- Nice to see you.
- The mirror goes down well, but it's the only product Simon's been commissioned to make all week.
He's realising that the blacksmith's days on the high street are numbered.
SIMON: That's the bit that does make me sad, really.
I can see my craft just slowly disappearing over the years.
- Oh, it's beautiful.
- If people want to buy cheap quality, let's sell them cheap quality.
Oh, wow! Oh, look! I'm so glad that it wasn't just about coming in and buying dresses, it was about a service that they really enjoyed and a whole experience that they really enjoyed.
Well, he tells me that he's ordered a boar's head, which I'm slightly apprehensive about.
No.
Does it look less like a head than it did the other day? - No, it looks more like a head.
- No, it looks like a head.
OK.
Well, you'll enjoy this, won't you? - Right, are you ready? - Yeah, we're ready.
- You've gotta look.
Go on.
- Two, one Oh, my goodness! - Is that actually a head? - Oh, yeah, I boned that out.
- He said you were worth it, you see.
- Well, absolutely.
- I was worth it.
I was worth a boar's head.
- Yeah, yeah.
You've completed the second week and what we wanted to see is whether you could deliver outstanding customer service, to give your customers a sense of the showmanship and the display of the era.
By and large, I think a resounding very, very well done.
Michael, you are an absolute star in the making, young man.
- Of course I am.
I'm well better than him.
- (Laughter) Look, in one day, I took more money than we took all week, which means that he was just kind of holding me back.
If we were gonna give medals out - Debbie, outstanding.
I mean, truly outstanding.
The men went off to war and you have just worked your socks off.
Hats off to you, darling.
You grafted like a loony.
JULIET: I really think this has been the women's era at the end of this, because they've had to pick up when the men have gone off to the trenches.
It's just shown you, I think, how tough the life of an Edwardian shopkeeper was.
- It was not an easy life, it was hard - Incredibly tough.
and the rewards weren't all that great, so well done.
I know you've worked hard and it hasn't been easy, especially with the men going off to war, but there are plenty of smiles amongst the families here, so we wish you the best of luck with the next era, which is the 1930s.
I did really enjoy being out the front, and I enjoyed being with the customers but, you know, we are a team and I did feel like half of me was missing, really.
CAROLINE: I think the worst aspect of this era has been our cakes and I think the worst that could possibly happen to me in the next era is more cakes so, please, no more cakes.